The night is ours E-Book

Maria Spotlight Bennet

• Herausgeber: Storm&Ashes
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 247

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Blood will flow, the world of humanity will burn. Judgment Day is inevitable.How far would you go to save those you love? Decades after her last victory over evil, Larissa believes she and her pack are safe. Blinded by the supposed peace, an ancient force spreads its dark wings over Larissa's life. In the final epos, she faces the fallen angel whose immoral offer to the pack sanctifies only the means to an end. Larissa's final test leads her through betrayal, loss, and the certainty that good and evil are not yet finished with each other.

Leseprobe

1st edition

Copyright© 2023 The Night is ours- Apocalypse

by Maria Spotlight Bennet / All rights reserved

Imprint: E-book Distribution by feiyr.com

Self-publishing name: Storm&Ashes

Author: Maria Spotlight Bennet

Address: Eschau 43, 77716 Fischerbach, Germany

E-mail: [email protected]

Illustrations from Pixabay.com

Cover design: Maria Spotlight Bennet

Ebook ID: 20032590

The book

The night is ours-Apocalypse is the third part in the book series about vampires and werewolves, respectively the fifth part in the complete series if you add the two prequels. For the best possible reading experience, the series should be read as follows.

1. Eternity and a day-When fate means betrayal

2. Eternity and a night- The die is cast

3. The night is ours- Shadows of the past

4. The night is ours- Future is death

5. The night is ours - Apocalypse

The author

She loves to dream and one of her biggest dreams is to have her books made into movies. Her stories are soulful, heartbreaking, sinister. In the process, she incorporates much from her own life.

The night is ours

Apocalypse

Prologue

Together. What does this word stand for? It is the signification of a community, a pack, committed to accomplishing a task. I had stopped at together, we had stopped there. But our journey was not yet over, for evil had awakened once again. And now, standing before a dying world, its ashes at my feet, I didn't know if we would make it out of this hell together ...

Parenting Burdens

"Easy, easy. You can do this. Concentrate, and nothing can go wrong."

My brand-new Mercedes GLE SUV stopped on the side of the road with a jolt. I took a breath. Why had I bought this car in the first place? I usually liked my mobile rides sleek and fast, had just purchased a brand new Porsche Carrera the year before that I loved to race against my brother Tim in, and now I had this clunky box around me. Sure, the car had a few extras that weren't to be sneezed at, but for some reason, I felt ridiculous in it. Or it was the external circumstances that made the car so unattractive to me. The crowd of people in the square in front of me, the giggles of the many children and teenagers, their sometimes dopey grins behind their teeth barred with braces, and not to forget the honking of the many other cars that gradually drove away. The door to my SUV flew open. That was the moment I knew again why I was taking all this on.

"Get the hell out of here“, my daughter Estelle nagged, dismissively gesturing. Hastily, she wiped a strand of golden blonde hair from her face with her other hand, which had fallen over her left turquoise eye.

"What's wrong, sweetie?", I asked her calmly.

"Don't ask, hit the gas", she continued to bark.

I pulled the key out of the ignition and turned to her again, whereupon a sigh escaped her before I even got the word out.

"Estelle, I'm your mother, so I'd like to know what's going on."

"Why the hell do I have to go to this goddamn school?", she roared. Her little outburst of rage slammed me back into reality with cold force. There were no more cars, no more honking horns, and even the loud background noise caused by all the people around the schoolyard faded to a dull echo somewhere in the back of my mind.

"Did you get in trouble again?", I merely asked, wishing I had phrased the question differently.

"Mom, this is bullshit. I'm approaching fifty, but I'm supposed to pretend I'm a seventeen-year-old, so I can go to school with those brainless people out there."

"Estelle, that's what normal means. I wanted you to know and appreciate the comforts of a normal life. Believe me, you're nothing in this world if you haven't lived in it. Every one of us knows that. You can ask your father, uncles, aunts, everyone will tell you. Besides, you stopped aging a long time ago. So what, you look like a slightly more mature seventeen-year-old, what's the problem?"

"The problem is that I can't stand this school anymore. I've tried, mother. I tried making friends with my peers," she put the word peers in quotation marks with her fingers, "but it backfired. Most of my classmates hate me. The girls either talk shit about me or ignore me. And the boys undress me with their looks, or make stupid remarks about me. Not even the nerds want anything to do with me. Normally I'd mess up those stupid Barbie dolls' pretty faces and rip the guys' balls off, but then my cover as a human would be blown and that can't happen under any circumstances."

The sarcasm, coupled with her anger, was clearly audible in her voice. I began to wonder if I had made a mistake? The war had been over for several years now, I had defeated my archenemy Claus and sent his dark army back to hell. Peace accompanied my pack and me since then, and we were happy. At least, that's what I believed. For me, a logical next step had been to offer my children a normal life. That included not having to hide, so I sent them to a school, and at first, everything seemed to go smoothly. People bought our lies about who we were, how old we were, the whole package of hoaxes. But that security was threatening to topple, and it wasn't the first time Estelle had complained about her status.

"Honey, it's only two years until you graduate, you'll see, the time will fly by."

"Not if you're uncomfortable, Mom. Then every day is torture." She pressed her black and pink backpack tightly against her body as if seeking support. I should have been that hold for her, but I couldn't think of anything else. My hands were locked tightly around the steering wheel. Seeing Estelle like this shook me, and yet her rebellious behavior didn't surprise me much, after all, she was my daughter and had inherited this quirk from me. The back door opened, the car didn't jerk as it would if someone sat in the back seat of a car.

"Guess who got an A in physics?" Luan, my son and second born, was beaming all over as he announced the good news and proudly presented the piece of paper with the grade of A, written thick and bold as a sign of his diligence.

"That's great, my boy. I congratulate you. You'd best put it in the folder with all the other A's you've already written."

Estelle remained silent. She stared out the front window with narrowed eyes that had an angry shadow over them, still holding her backpack pressed close.

"Wow, what a great atmosphere in this car", Luan teased, "has our princess misbehaved again and is now offended because no one wants to talk to her anymore?"

"What do you know, Luan! After all, you're younger than I am, what does a nosey brat like you want to understand about my feelings?"

"Stop it, now!", I commanded them. There was anger in my voice. I usually used it only when the situation between the siblings got out of hand too much, and I had to restrain them by being firm. In the meantime, almost all the other parents' cars had left, and the school bus was just starting to take its traveling guests home. The schoolyard was empty except for a few. Another school day had ended, not without causing some drama.

"Estelle, we'll discuss this at home", I finally said, turned the ignition key, shifted into forward gear, and drove off.

The sun already had some power on this cloudless May day. Its warmth flowed through the car windows like a pleasantly hot bath and settled on my porcelain skin. Even the tinted windows did not stop its rays completely. Still, it didn't bother us. Estelle was caught up in her resentment, and the comforting warmth passed her by unnoticed. In the rearview mirror, I realized that Luan was gazing absent-mindedly out the window. Despite the many prejudices, vampires and werewolves appreciated daylight. Like the night, it was a source of our energy, with nightlight still being our greatest ally. At the latest, when I turned right at the bear crossing in the direction of Thunder Valley, where we currently lived, the golden light was over. Here we were greeted by a long forest path lined with meter-high pines, firs, acorns, and maple trees, plus the dense bushes that sprouted from the ground like a protective wall. This is where our empire began, and it protected us with everything it could muster. I drove up and down the paths for another ten minutes until the strong wall of trees above our heads thinned out again somewhat. The dim mixture of pale yellow and peach-red rays landed on the dry moss-covered ground. My eyes immediately landed on the wooden house with the red shingles and glass roof dome; our home. The place where our hearts beat. Surrounded by vast wooded terrain that offered us optimal shelter for one thing and the expanse we needed to hunt, we spent our eternity. I parked the SUV right in front of the house. The purr of the engine had attracted someone. Martin's icy-sea-blue eyes were, as always, the first thing to reach me and shoot a love dart into my heart. Plus his charismatic smile, which gave him a loving aura. He was also happy about our arrival, but the joy was abruptly interrupted when Estelle dashed past her father without a word of greeting and stormed into the house. Luan at least gave him a brief "Hi, Dad," but it seemed cool, not like what we were used to from him. Martin looked at me, frowning.

"We need to talk", I said, starting the first discussion in a long series of discussions.

Followed by my two faithful hell wolves, Snow and Shadow, we ran behind the house and strolled through the forest. The hell wolves kept close to us, always ready to follow my commands.

"So, tell me, what's going on", Martin began, "our daughter seems depressed."

"That's putting it mildly. When I picked her up earlier, the mood in the car couldn't have sunk any lower. She hates school, Martin. She's miserable as hell and wonders why she has to go through all this."

"Because you sent them both to school", was his reply.

"So now it's my fault", I snapped back, slightly miffed, and stopped in my tracks.

"I didn't mean it that way", he said calmly, "but I guess we both know that life doesn't always go straight. Estelle's going through a rough patch right now, I'm sure it'll blow over. But that doesn't mean we won't support her. Just as we can't give in to every little thing."

"Trifle? Well, it didn't seem like a trifle to me. You should have seen her earlier."

"Lis, it's two years until her graduation, she should go through with it, and after that ..." he interrupted.

Yes, after that, what came next? As it seemed, we went from day to day, always striving to do everything according to the pattern, so as not to provoke any trouble. Much had changed since the days of the great war against Claus and his infernal army. My children had had their freedoms, of course. But considering the fact that they were both still young immortals, practically green behind the ears, perhaps this carefree time had not been enough.

"Queen, what Estelle needs now is an understanding person and a stern hand. It's a ridiculous two years until she graduates. You don't give up just before the finish line."

I understood Martin's reasoning, but the fact that he had once again called me queen did not sway me in my final decision on the subject. It was his way of wrapping me around his finger because he knew how quickly I forgot a thought when he spoke that way. A vice of mine that I couldn't get rid of. At this time, I ignored it because the subject of Estelle and school was still too present, and I needed more help. For now, I would leave Estelle alone with her resentment and get the advice I needed first.

My brother's house was quietly and peacefully situated by a sweeping lake on the other side of the mountain. By our supernaturally fast locomotion, we were in an instant with the respective other. The hill also offered otherwise no obstacle for me, at least which concerned my telepathic abilities. Through them, I was always connected with my pack in thoughts but avoided slipping into my brother's thoughts between 6 and 7 o'clock because he and his wife Tanya let pop the corks in the bedroom. Otherwise, I could always count on Tim, and he had given me some good advice in the past.

The pasture next to Tim's house smelled of freshly sprouted grass and growing hay flowers. The blades of grass gently tickled my ankles as I walked across the landscape. Muffled whinnies emanated from Tim's horse barn; they came from the Wallis stallion Tim had purchased the previous year. A beautiful, dark brown animal who loved it when I combed his mane. I hadn't ridden a horse since Lucifer's death at the hands of Claus' harpies, afraid I would compare the animals too much. I missed riding, the typical inherent smell of the animals, the grooming afterwards, and how the wind swept through my hair when the animal accelerated its gallop. For now, there were other things to do.

Tim was outside. He sat at the end of the footbridge that led into the lake and let his bare feet dangle down. His toes touched the surface of the water and trailed ever-widening circles.

"Well, sister, what brings you to me?"

Although I walked silently across the path, my brother had already sniffed me out. It was the smell of the individual that told us immortals who were nearby. So I associated Tim with the scent of sandalwood, with a breeze of musk at the end. And Martin smelled to me like freshly roasted coffee that danced with cinnamon in the middle of its nuance. What I smelled like to Tim, I didn't know. Whatever it was, that gift helped us tremendously in locating each other even in the dead of night.

"I need your advice", I said, joining him.

"What's wrong?"

"Estelle is loose. She's hissing and lashing out like a mad cat because she's fed up with school."

Tim couldn't help laughing and snorted.

"What's so funny about that?", I asked, swinging my head to the side.

"I'm sorry, sister, but she truly is your daughter."

"What's that about again?", impatience rose in me.

"She's a chip of the old block, Lis. I once knew a woman who used to sneak off at night, and act like a rebel all the time. She didn't believe in rules and some of her decisions were badly made. And yet she always got up again. Even to this day, she comes to me for advice."

OUCH! The reference, of course, was to me. It felt hard to have the mirror held up to me. Disagreeing with him and sparking a heated discussion was not an option. I had come to listen to Tim's thoughts on the matter.

"She's still young, Lis, eternity is ahead of her, and she has to find her way like we all had to first. If you ask me, let her have her freedom. Estelle still has plenty of time for real and strenuous life. Both your children have that."

I didn't know how to interpret it properly, but his words carried a certain emptiness. As if I had already known the answer to my difficulty.

"I often think back to when Estelle was an innocent child. How proud you and Tanya were back then when you first met her and how quickly she captured the hearts of our family members. And then the war came and threatened to take them away from me. If I had not done everything in my power, it might have happened that way. I was already dying, Tim, when I braved the deadly cold in No Man's Land to find the last Devil's Dagger after all. She is my child, Tim. I will always see in her the small, fragile girl. And as her mother, I want only the best for her."

At that moment, it hit me. I had probably only sought out Tim from a kind of routine, although my subconscious had long since decided on Estelle. There was this split personality in me, light and dark, cold and hot. One side was always craving validation and help, the other was tough and focused and knew what it wanted. These sides fought their battle in silence, and after only a short time, the winner was determined.

I left Tim's climes. I had heard enough for now. Yes, he was right, Estelle was just like me in many ways. She had inherited the rebelliousness from me, but I couldn't give in to it, or I would turn her into a bully. The world had changed. Even though we no longer had to brave enemies, there were still enough dangers out there. Not attracting attention was the top priority. Living a life of make-believe was just part of the game. Estelle had to accept that, too.

When I returned home, the sun had already disappeared behind the horizon. Dark blue and violet clouds rose in lines above the mountain dome. Actually, I had an appointment and a long walk ahead of me, but as long as the matter with Estelle was not settled, I had no peace. Martin was in the kitchen, just giving Snow and Shadow a big bowl of water. Luan was lying on the sofa in the living room. He was dozing and rocking his feet slightly up and down over the back of the couch. We could have been mistaken for an average family with dogs, but as we had for millennia, we hid our true selves behind a skillful masquerade. Estelle's room was on the upper floor, two rooms away from our bedroom. I walked down the hallway, which was hung with expensive paintings by Lichtenstein. It was quiet in my daughter's room, for once, there was no loud music blaring out of the stereo, where one ran the risk of being blown back down the stairs by the intense sound. I knocked.

"Go away", came back as an answer. Of course, I did not but entered. You wouldn't think I was dealing with someone barely fifty years old. Her demeanor resembled that of a wayward child. She had her arms folded under her chest and was sitting on her bed, her eyebrows drawn into an angry line. Her irises were not yet glowing, which meant her resentment was still bubbling under the surface.

"I want to talk to you", I said calmly as I approached her bed. She didn't make a sound, indicating to me by turning away that she wasn't in the mood for a discussion.

"Estelle, what are you doing? You're acting worse than a sixteen-year-old."

"Well, I'm being treated like one“, she replied, recalcitrant.

"Child, I don't understand your problem. You act like you've been wronged. Like we're asking the impossible of you."

"Mom, please don't", she snarled, finally settling into an upright position, fixing her gaze on her counterpart, "there's no value in arguing with you about this."

"No! That's out of the question. I'm your mother, and care about you, so I'm not leaving it at that and I'm not letting you push me back that far. It may be that the situation is uncomfortable for you, but that's part of growing up. So is pulling yourself together for certain things. It's a ridiculous two years until you graduate, Estelle. Why are you making such a big deal out of this?"

"WHY? You really want to know why? Because you're imposing your will on me. It wasn't my choice to go to that stupid school."

Inside me, a sudden silence fell. Obviously, I was allowing myself to be pushed back by my daughter, after all, who had nothing to oppose me in terms of wisdom and power.

"I feel constricted, Mom. Like I can't breathe right because you're tightening your corset of obedience more and more. I have to pretend to be a teenager five days a week, have to lower myself in my mind to the spiritual level of my limited classmates. And I have to listen to the nonsense of even dumber adults who miserably try to beat the subject matter into our brains when they haven't even mastered it themselves. I tried in the beginning, Mom. I wanted to make you proud, and I didn't want to buckle under that burden. But this world is not for me. Putting on a smile every day even though you're crying in your deepest soul, what purpose would that serve? So forgive me if I don't share your enthusiasm about the human world."

I let her words roll off my tongue, and something about them didn't fit. When had my daughter lost her fighting spirit?

"That the others avoid you, I'm sorry, Estelle. But it certainly has its advantages. At least this way, no one gets the wrong idea."

"SPARE ME WITH THAT!", Estelle's anger was unleashed. Her turquoise eyes were flooded with a haunted glow, "this is so typical of you. It's always all about you. First, you send my brother and me out into the world even though you're aware of the dangers. Your double standards piss me off. I won't let you continue to live your life on my back."

"SHUT UP!" The beast in me had taken the lead, for the wolf did not tolerate such behavior. Every member of a pack had to carry their burden. If he did not, he was punished. Estelle held her breath for a moment. Her look was a mixture of anger and terror.

"Young lady“, I began, my eyes like a bonfire at night, "you will learn your place. And you will likewise learn to temper your tone towards me."

I pierced her with my evil stare for a while before turning away. At her door, I stopped again but spoke with my back turned.

"As soon as you graduate, you can go to hell as far as I'm concerned, Estelle. I haven't survived more than a thousand years to now be proven wrong by your defiance."

Make it count. Estelle had probably hoped I would weaken and give in if she only talked long enough about her supposedly broken world. Yet both my children had everything they needed. The outside world did not catch up with us here. Here we could be who we were. She would have to swallow this bitter pill for her willy-nilly because I didn't want a tyrannical child who got her way through terror. We all carry a cross, we all have our qualities, and mine was to be untamed.

I was late for my appointment because of the incident with Estelle. I had already expected that they would have left without me, but to my surprise, the pack was still waiting for me.

"You're late“, Gaius reprimanded me.

Behind the leader of the new werewolf clan, two more figures rose. It was already night, yet I saw their outlines clearly. Pius, Gaius' brother and deputy pack leader, stood to his left, while to his right, his advisor Marvelus covered his flank. Gaius' bold gaze crossed mine. Behind the Persian blue eyes was an urge to know what had caused my delay.

"I had business to attend to", I answered.

"Well then“, Gaius said, brushing his shoulder-length hair back.

Among werewolves, the tone was mainly gruff, sometimes even undercooled. Nevertheless, I commanded myself a certain respect and would never get the foolish idea of irritating Gaius. It was a great gesture to be accepted by another werewolf clan in the hunt. Usually, they did not tolerate foreign wolves in their ranks, and unlike my pack, which consisted only of bloodsuckers except for my son and me, I had no recourse here. Gaius and his men had once been part of Tarin's following, the former king of the werewolves of the north, before a younger werewolf had overthrown him. I had fought the new leader because I wanted to get Tarin's men back to fight Claus, but I had not been successful at first. Of Tarin's once three-hundred-strong army, whose support he had promised me in case of war, only twenty men had managed to free themselves from the tyranny of the new leader and had rushed to our aid in the last great battle. Eight werewolves had fallen then, and Gaius had stayed close to us afterwards with his remaining men. He had taken over the leadership of the new pack and made peace with their past. We accepted and respected each other, for I was grateful to Gaius for his sacrifices. Twice a month, I was allowed to go hunting with the pack, which had since grown. Gaius was clever in his choice of new werewolves. He drew into his ranks only those whose sudden disappearance would not be noticed by anyone. In the meantime, the pack had grown from twelve members to twenty-two. And they would become more, for as I could see, there were six female wolves among those present. The circle of life would close, our species would survive.

Pius eyed me briefly. He had trimmed his beard because the last time I saw him, it had been much bushier. Now it nestled in neatly trimmed contours around his chin area. Together with the blue denim jacket with fur trim and the checkered shirt, Pius could rather have been mistaken for a model that had sprung out of a fashion magazine. His brother gave himself in the exact another way. Gaius, like me, had something rebellious about him, which was why I liked him the most out of everyone in the pack. His body odor gave off a woodsy note, and the many scars on his arms made him interesting. I hardly knew anything about the origin of those scars, and I didn't ask about them. I rather liked making up my own stories about them. Lost in thought, I didn't notice someone standing up behind me. It wasn't until I felt a touch on my shoulders that I caught myself in the here and now and wheeled around in a flash.

"Hey, little one“, Marvelus grinned, exposing his golden incisor. He was the tallest of the troop, broad-shouldered, but after his transformation into a wolf, he was no taller than the rest of his brothers. Marvelus had his hair, which reached over his shoulders, tied back in a ponytail. His Garibaldi beard soon needed a fresh shave. Obviously, this big fool was waiting for an answer from me, but he wasn't going to like it.

"You may be the leader's advisor, Marvelus, but if you call me little one again, I'll cut your balls off and stuff them in your mouth."

Some of them kept trying, but my body was off-limits to them. For nothing in the world would I cheat on Martin with another man. These werewolves were sometimes unbridled in their sexual actions and you had to bring them down to earth when they provoked their advances. Marvelus was one of them. How and when they planned their offspring was none of my business. My physical temple belonged to only one man and even for the sake of the most primitive instinct, procreation, I would not break my sacred oath. After I had once again rebuffed Marvelus, which had not been noticed, those present released the wolves within. Gray, black, and brown animals shot out of their human shells, and with their leader in the vanguard, who had black and brown pied fur, they went hunting for fresh meat. I, too, was transformed. My wolf was by far the biggest in the pack, but never did I intimidate others with my presence. For me, the hunt was more about a playful drive, and I always let Gaius go first. Here he was the lord and master. The pack had picked up the scent of a deer. We would have to attack from all sides because the stag was fully grown and a good two meters tall. Its antlers were enormous, and many times stags had hurt wolves hunting with their powerful headdresses. I waited until Pius and Gaius were close enough. Marvelus kept two meters behind me; I guess he still couldn't let it go. From the front, the two brothers positioned themselves, and from each side, three other wolves. Gaius gave me the sign, he spoke in my head that it would be ready.

I was responsible for startling the deer. The animal would run away in panic, and no matter in which direction it should flee, wolves lurked at every corner. But when I tried to run, I couldn't get away. Something had clouded my senses, and I saw only blurred. My mind had been touched by a strange presence that caused me to stumble. I staggered clumsily into the bushes before me, though I had intended a different tactic.

"What are you doing?", I heard Gaius curse in my head.

The stag dashed away. In time, the wolves realized my mistake and chased after the animal. I remained in place, unable to break free of my trance. I fought it, and finally, it gave in. My vision cleared, and I heard the pack in the woods kill the deer. They had done it without my help, but I was ashamed that I could not do my part.

"What the hell was going on?", asked Gaius to me, who had changed back, just as I had, and let his men take the lead on the kill. The big wild-looking man was worried about me, so he put aside his supreme claim to the hunted prey and checked on me instead.

"I'm fine, thank you", I answered him curtly.

"Do you need any help?"

"No. I was off my guard earlier, sorry about that. I almost ruined it for you. Go on back to the others."

"I'll tell them to leave you some."

Leaning back against a tree trunk, I stood back. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before. While the wolves gleefully munched on their prey, I thought about the unfortunate incident. This presence, it had been too powerful to be imaginary. And it had given off a strange smell, of sulfur and burnt flesh.